Warriors bid adieu to IPL

After three years of uneasy bonding,Sahara has pulled the plug on the Indian Premier League (IPL). The proverbial last straw came after the IPL’s decided to en-cash their bank guarantee. Immediately, Sahara announced the withdrawal from the Twenty20 tournament. The company has decided to stop sponsoring the Indian team as well.
Sahara has asserted that the decision is final and irrevocable. “We request the board to not to approach us this time for any discussion as they have done in February 2012,” Sahara said in a statement. The bank guarantee, worth over Rs 133 crores, was encashed on May 20, a day after Sahara Pune Warriors had finished their league engagements in the IPL 6. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), perhaps, expected the drastic decision and accordingly did not venture into the bank in the middle of the tournament lest the team pulled out midway through the league leaving the IPL in disarray.
The board, sure, did its calculation right but it would have to be prepared for heavy losses as the Sahara team was worth about Rs 1700 crores. Annually, the franchise contributed Rs 170 crores to BCCI’s coffers. Now it would have to do without those big bucks as the Sahara has also decided to withdraw the sponsorship of the Team India from December 2013. Since 2010, it has paid about 504 crores, @ Rs 3.34 crores per international fixture. That is besides Rs 520 crores paid towards IPL franchise fee in the last three years.
Sahara’s grievance with the BCCI has been two-fold. First, it was sold the team on the promise that there would be 10 teams and 94 matches. The BCCI never replaced Kochi Tuskers Kerala which was thrown out of the tournament in 2011 and the IPL was cut to a 9-team affair. There were, of course, never 94 matches in the tournament.
In view of the reduced number of matches, Sahara has been demanding that the franchise fee be recalibrated but the BCCI did not pay heed to their demand. “We’ve been repeatedly requesting for initiation of arbitration. We sent suggestion of names (for arbitration) which were turned down and instead meaningless communication was created to stall finalization,” a Sahara official said.
The other, and more serious, grievance of Sahara is the purported devaluation of the IPL. The BCCI sold the team to Sun TV for Rs 425 crores (at Rs 85 crores a year) resulting in heartburn for the Sahara franchise.
A team bought in 2010 was charged Rs 1700 crores and the team purchased two years later is given on a platter for Rs 425 crores. The BCCI did not try to assuage the feelings of the Sahara franchise. “Considering all the disgusting facts mentioned above, now we would not keep the IPL franchisee even if the entire franchisee fee is waived off. It is firm and final decision of Sahara to withdraw from the IPL,” the statement said.
The trouble between the BCCI and Sahara started early this year when the team was required to pay 30 per cent of the franchise fee (Rs 51 crores) before January 3. Sahara did fulfil the obligation but its payment came with a note of protest. Sahara wanted the outstanding issues settled through arbitration. The remaining 70 per cent was needed to be paid before the start of the league in April. This time, Sahara did not make the payment demanding the matter be settled once and for all. The BCCI did not entertain the request and en-cashed the bank guarantee (worth Rs 133 crores) post the team’s league matches resulting in the withdrawal of the team.